NASA SBIR 2006 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Honeybee Robotics Ltd.
460 W 34th Street
New York, NY 10001-4236
(212) 966-0661

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Jerri   Ji
ji@honeybeerobotics.com
460 W. 34th Street
New York, NY  10001-4236
(646) 459-7810

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT ( Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
In response to the need for motors and actuators that can operate in the harsh venusian environment for extended periods of time, on the order of several hours to days, Honeybee Robotics proposes continued development of an extreme temperature brushless motor and a position feedback device (resolver or tachometer) and a demonstration of both in simulated Venus surface conditions. During Phase I a first-generation prototype motor/resolver will be designed, built, and tested in Venus-like conditions (486^oC temperature and mostly CO2 gas environment). Phase I testing will verify the feasibility of the designs and confirm that the motor/resolver combination can operate at 486^oC for an extended period of time. Fully developed and optimized versions of this motor/resolver could be used to actuate drills, robotic arms, and other devices outside of an environment-controlled landed platform on the surface of Venus. The device's ability to survive for hours (and potentially longer) in that environment is a major benefit to future Venus science missions. It would permit time for communication ground loops to optimize sampling and drilling target selection as well as allow for multiple samples to be acquired from the subsurface. In a potential Phase II effort, an extreme environment brushless motor/resolver combination will be developed to TRL 6.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS ( Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
High temperature motors are needed for future Venus surface exploration missions, and these missions provide the most immediate need for such devices. According to NASA's latest mission roadmap document, three different in situ Venus exploration missions are planned, with the first to be developed under the New Frontiers program with a potential launch date of 2013. The successful completion of the proposed effort would be essential to a New Frontiers Venus mission proposal as it would offer significant new opportunities for improved science, data gathering and operational life. According to the New Frontiers program schedule, the next Announcement of Opportunity is scheduled for release in about one to two years, which would be timed well with the proposed motor development here. Following a New Frontiers Venus In-Situ Explorer mission, two missions are planned in order to prepare for sample return, the first is a planned surface mission to demonstrate critical technologies and the second would be a fully equipped sample return mission. In addition to actuating a drill and sampling devices, high temperature motors are needed to actuate robotic arms, additional sample manipulation and comminution devices, and any other devices that require actuation exterior to the temperature- and pressure-controlled landed vessel.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS ( Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Electrical submersible pumps are down-hole pumps used in oil and geothermal applications such as steam floods (used in many fields to improve mobility of heavy oil and bitumen), geothermal wells, and other high temperature/ poor cooling applications. The trend in the application of ESPs has been toward installation in higher temperature reservoirs. An extreme temperature brushless motor could potentially allow oil and water pump operation at greater depths than those attainable using these existing ESPs. The Iceland Deep Drilling Project currently employs ESPs that operate in the 200^oC to 300^oC range. However, the wells the project desires to explore approach temperatures of 400^oC to 650^oC. Currently, ESPs do not exist that can handle these temperatures, but a brushless motor could be integrated with an ESP to accommodate the harsh environments of the IDDP.
Other potential applications identified include gas turbine starter/generators for aircraft engines, actuators for turbine fuel and steam control, inlet guide vane positioning, bleed heat valve control and remote sub-sea system actuation, high temperature electromechanical actuation systems for expendable launch vehicle thrust vector control and gimbaling of engines and adaptable aerodynamic surfaces , and furnace tending for glass/ceramic manufacturing.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Control Instrumentation Integrated Robotic Concepts and Systems Superconductors and Magnetic